Red Sox Win Seventh Straight, Beat Rays 4-0
BOSTON (AP) — Jon Lester pitched seven shutout innings and Brock Holt drove in two runs with one of his four doubles to lift the Boston Red Sox to their seventh straight win, completing a three-game sweep over the reeling Tampa Bay Rays with a 4-0 victory on Sunday.
Boston's streak follows a 10-game skid, its longest in 20 years. The Red Sox said that matches a major league record for consecutive wins after a double-digit losing stretch, according to research by the Elias Sports Bureau.
The 1989 Detroit Tigers did it after losing 12 in a row, and the 1942 Pittsburgh Pirates also did it after dropping 10 straight.
Holt had his big day after hitting his first major league homer in Saturday night's win. Garin Cecchini added an RBI double for his first major league hit.
Evan Longoria had a pair of singles for the Rays, who dropped their season-high sixth straight. Tampa Bay owns the AL's worst record at 23-34.
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